The defining feature of ME is severe and persistent muscle fatigability or post-exertion muscle weakness. This is a response to physical, cognitive or emotional exertion that persists for days and cannot be explained by other medical conditions. People with ME also experience a wide range of symptoms related to their cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal and other bodily systems.
The disease can strike at any age and affects all races, ethnicities and socioeconomic classes. Those who are severely affected are unable to work and may require around the clock care. On their best days, people with ME appear to be in good health and often the common blood tests ordered by doctors do not show anything out of the ordinary. Yet ME is a very real illness that can leave many unable to even get out of bed or attend school. Some adults are unable to work full or part time while children may be unable to attend school at all or need to be homeschooled.
While there is no cure for ME, there are treatments that can help to ease the symptoms. For example, a patient can try to pace their activities so they do not exceed their limited energy reserves. They can also use strategies to improve sleep and pain management. In addition, many people find they benefit from dietary changes and exercise. For those who are not able to participate in these activities, there are several support groups that can provide encouragement and resources.
In order to develop effective therapies for ME, a specific diagnostic criteria is needed. Unfortunately, the current diagnostic criteria for ME are not objective and rely solely on self-report of symptoms. Because of this, many individuals who have ME struggle to receive a correct diagnosis and as many as 90 percent are not diagnosed or misdiagnosed. This can lead to years of unrecognized suffering and can prevent proper treatment of the condition.
ME is a distinct neuromuscular disease with specific features [1]. It is not equivalent to CFS (CFS) and the name of the disease should be changed accordingly.
ME is a multi-systemic disorder with a wide range of symptoms affecting a variety of bodily systems, including the cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, skeletal and muscular. While many symptoms are present in ME, only muscle fatigability/post-exertion muscle weakness and neurological symptoms are mandatory in the proposed operational definition of ME. Future studies should establish the frequency of the other neurological and symptom clusters observed in endemic and epidemic ME cases, as well as their overlap with the criteria for ME-ICC (ME), Fukuda definition of CFS (CFS) and Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease (SEID) [1]. It is possible that some patients meet the CDC/ME-ICC or Fukuda definition but not the operational definition of ME and that a distinction between these four systems can be made using objective clinical and laboratory measures.